Haiti: Resistance grows along with repression

The Haitian economy is crumbling even further into misery. The Haitian National Police (PNH), with the firm backing of United Nations forces in Haiti, are increasing their attacks on poor neighborhoods in Port-au-Prince and throughout Haiti. The Pentagon is pouring in logistic support for the Haitian regime created by Washington.

Yet the Haitian people are maintaining their intractable, heroic resistance to foreign occupation and oppression.

Early in June, according to a communiqué of the Dessalinien Army of National Liberation (ADLN), “[T]he Northern Front of the (ADLN) occupied the northern town of Borgne just as it did the northern town of Plaisance in February. Four policemen stationed in the town´s police station surrendered when so ordered by the commander of the ADLN´s assault team. They realized the town and the police station were truly captured.” The ADLN is named after a leader of the Haitian Revolution, Jean-Jacques Dessalines.

The communiqué said that the ADLN refused the cops’ offer of money and jewelry, but “confiscated one pair of military boots, two .38-caliber pistols, one 9-mm pistol, two homemade pistols, a 12-gauge shotgun and a bulletproof vest. Those weapons will now serve to defend the dignity of the Haitian people.”

In Plaisance, the northern town of 70,000 people where the February attack of the ADLN took place, Fanmi Lavalas and the National Popular Party held a major demonstration June 16, marching from the soccer stadium to National Route 1. (Haiti-Progres, June 22)

Thousands of farmers came into town to march under slogans such as “Down with the occupation—down with the de facto Latortue government” and “Down with selections, up with honest elections, like President Aristide’s.”

The march, followed by some speeches, took place without major incidents.

However, the next day the PNH attacked the poor neighborhood of Bel Air in Port-au-Prince, a neighborhood where support for kidnapped President Jean-Bertrand Aristide runs deep. Three people were killed outright by gunfire and one died later. Some of the severely injured refused to go to the hospital, afraid the cops would attack them on the way or once they arrived.

One cop was killed by gunfire.

According to the Haitian Information Project, Natalie Luzius, 17, was killed while protecting her 6-month-old son. Her brother told HIP, “Natalie was cooking when they killed her. She wasn’t even on the street. They fired into our home without warning and without cause.”

People living in Bel Air think the police attack was retaliation for a demonstration June 14 in Port-au-Prince that drew thousands of people into the streets to demand the return of President Aristide and constitutional government, the release of political prisoners and an end to repression. They also denounced the “selection elections” planned for October and November by the U.S. ambassador and the de facto government.

According to a broadcast by Kevin Pina of HIP, less than 3.5 percent of the eligible voters—about 150,000 people out of 4.1 million—have registered in the two months since the voting rolls were opened. This is despite the fact that everyone eligible is obligated to register and needs to carry an identity card showing they did so. (Flashpoint, June 22)

The attitude on the street is that Haiti already had a free and fair election and picked Aristide, a president the Haitian people wanted, but the bourgeoisie responded with a coup, organized and financed by the United States. People say voting in a “selection election” is not worth the trouble of going to the polls—especially if by staying away they can expose the Haitian bourgeoisie and the United States.